Today was the long awaited trip down the Rhine Gorge to see all the castles. It was foggy. Not just a little bit foggy. It was cold and foggy.

Barron’s commentary began at 8.30 and was audible on the sky deck and in the lounge. Brenda and I joined a couple of other hardy souls and went up on the sky deck so at least we could see the villages on the side.

We had our jackets and scarves and hats and were fine when sheltered behind the bridge.

The towns were cute but evidently it is a poorer part of Germany as they are very isolated. There are no bridges across the river for 60km and the towns on each side have both a main road and railway going right through the towns. Often the train goes between neighbouring houses and the towns are strung out along the river with high cliffs behind. The hills are almost all terraced with vineyards and they grow a lot of Riesling grapes in the region.

By about 11 am the fog started to lift and then we had sunshine and it was vaguely warm. We saw about half of the castles along the Gorge but that was still heaps.

At 2.15 (not 2 or 2,20) we disembarked at Rüdesheim and travelled in these ridiculous little train things (very Disney) to the centre of town and then up a gondola to this memorial thing at the top of the hill.

Fabulous views all around.

We walked back down through the vineyards in the sunshine and it was very pleasant.

Back in the town Mike and Brenda had one of the local special coffees with brandy and sugar and lots of whipped cream. Sounded and looked gross but they said it was nice. I had a glass of Riesling.

Then it was back to the boat. We had the most fantastic classical music concert from a trio comprising 2 violinists and a guitarist and are called La Strada. They were excellent. Then it was the port talk about the next day and then dinner.

We are totally getting in the groove.